INT/EXT: SCREENPLAYS FOR

CLASSROOM LEARNING

INTRODUCTION

"Audiences don't know somebody sits down and writes a picture. They think the actors make it up as they go along.”

-Billy Wilder (screenwriter/director)

TOPICS I’M COVERING:

What is a Screenplay?

The screenplay as a text for analysis

The screenplay as a creative writing product

Getting started

Questions

WHAT IS A SCREENPLAY, EXACTLY? Adapted from the Oxford English Dictionary:

noun

the script of a film, which may include dialogue, acting instructions and scene directions.

WHAT IS A SCREENPLAY, EXACTLY? Adapted from the Oxford English Dictionary:

noun

the script of a film, which may include dialogue, acting instructions and scene directions.

From Scriptlab: Unlike the novelist, who has complete freedom to explore any point of view, shift between conscious and subconscious mind, explore a character or a story from multiple perspectives, etc., the screenwriter MUST write in present tense and only what the audience can SEE and HEAR.

ANALYSING SCREENPLAYS

Like other narrative texts, such as novels, plays and short stories, you can use screenplays to analyse and evaluate:

PlotCharacter ConflictSettingThemes

LET’S CLOSE READ A SCENEWe are going to view the opening scene of Brokeback Mountain.

While watching this scene, try to pick out information that helps establish:

CharacterPlotSettingConflictTheme

OPENING SCENE: BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN

SCREENPLAYS AS…

Creative Writing Products

GET TO KNOW: PARTS OF A SCREENPLAY

http://slugline.co/basics/

BASIC PARTS OF A SCREENPLAY Once you have mastered these scene components, you can essentially build a sequence of scenes which you can shape into an entire screenplay narrative.

. When you know

the notes to sing, you can sing most

anything!

WHAT MAKES WRITING CINEMATIC?

Cinematic writing is about the compression of information. There is no time in a film to dawdle. Unlike a play, which relies heavily on dialogue to communicate information, a screenwriter may use dialogue and visual cues to evoke meaning.

Screenplays are mindful of pace and momentum. It must be crafted to sustain action and audience attention – this means paring down the story to what is crucial.

WHAT MAKES WRITING CINEMATIC?

Regular Prose by Stephen King

“When Andy came to Shawshank in 1948, he was thirty years old. He was a short neat little man with sandy hair and small, clever hands. He wore gold-rimmed spectacles. His fingernails were always clipped, and they were always clean. That’s a funny thing to remember about a man, I suppose, but it seems to sum up Andy for me. He always looked as if he should have been wearing a tie. On the outside he had been a vice-president in the trust department of a large Portland bank. Good work for a man as young as he was, especially when you consider how conservative most banks are…and you have to multiply that conservatism by ten when you get up into New England, where folks don’t like to trust a man with their money unless he’s bald, limping, and constantly plucking at his pants to get his truss around straight. Andy was in for murdering his wife and her lover.”

Cinematic Writing by Frank Darabont

“ANDY DUFRENSE, mid-20’s, wire rim glasses, three-piece suit. Under normal circumstances a respectable, solid citizen; hardly dangerous, perhaps even meek.  But these circumstances are far from normal. He is disheveled, unshaven, and very drunk. A cigarette smolders in his mouth. His eyes, flinty and hard, are riveted to the bungalow up the path.”

THE SCENE AS A NARRATIVE UNIT

A scene must…

Move the action forwardProvide information about the plotReveal something about the character

A well written scene will have two of the above elements. A great scene will have all three.

SCENE WRITING ACTIVITY: You are going to adapt an opening scene based on this text:

Jack and Jill went up the hill

to fetch a pail of water

Jack fell down and broke his crown

and Jill came tumbling after.

Your scene must: Use the screenplay writing format Be no more than one page

Extra challenge:

present the story in the style of one of the following genres:

horror romance period adventure action

HERE’S MY SIMPLE GO:FADE IN.

EXT. FARMLANDS – DAY

Dust blows across the parched ground. The earth, deeply cracked and separated into jagged plates, supports no life.

A FINGER traces the outline of a crack, picks up a piece of soil and crumbles it into the wind.

JACK, 15, gaunt and unkempt, breathes shallowly and deliberately through cracked, peeling lips. He casts a steely gaze across the barren, shimmering horizon.

In the distance, a miniscule patch of green protrudes from a sea of brown.

Jack bends down. His hand grips the handle of a worn, wooden bucket.

He begins walking.

EDWARD HOPPER

Use one of the following paintings by Artist Edward Hopper to create a short scene.

Think about: What is happening? What might be the conflict? Who are the characters? What are their backgrounds? What is the dialogue? What are their relationships with other chacraters?

CHOOSE A PAINTING

WHERE TO GET STARTED: BOOKS

WHERE TO GET STARTED: BOOKS

Linda Seger The Art of Adaptation

Syd Field Screenplay

William Goldman, Adventures in the Screen Trade

Which Lie Did I Tell?

WHERE TO GET STARTED: WEBSITESSourcing Screenplays

Drew’s Script-o-Rama http://www.script-o-rama.com/snazzy/dircut.html

Internet Script Movie Database http://www.imsdb.com/

Simply Scripts http://www.simplyscripts.com/WR_resource.html

Creative Support

Elements of Cinema http://www.elementsofcinema.com

The Scriptlab http://thescriptlab.com/

Go Into the Story http://gointothestory.blcklst.com/

WHERE TO GET STARTED: OTHERS

Podcasts

Scriptnotes

http://johnaugust.com/podcast

Scriptcast

http://www.scriptdoctoreric.com/scriptcast

Q&A With Jeffrey Goldsmith

http://www.theqandapodcast.com/

A THOUGHT:

“We have suffered anonymity far too often. I appeal to all movie critics and feature writers to please always bear in mind that a film production begins and ends with a screenplay.”

-Ernest Lehman(screenwriter)